to complain about Londoners?

[NearlyMrsCustardsHardHat]

I have just gone from brixton to Liverpool street in tears and with a very heavy limp. I am in agony right now and not one person has stopped to ask if im ok.

Considering the time (midnight) if you saw a woman limping through the tube network in tears would you stop her and ask if she's ok? Or aibu to think someone might have helped me?

disclaimer: i met people at both ends of the journey so am home fine just pissed off at how people will just walk past someone in such obvious difficulty. Aibu to be disgusted by it?

Probably people thought you were a nutter I'm afraid.

I am a Londoner born and bred and have been travelling on the tube since whenever. I am not a see you ent tee but I am, however, very adroit at knowing when to approach/when to avoid. Years of experience give you a sixth sense in these matters.

OP you should have got a cab. Or else had the nous to realise people would have mistaken you for a junkie trickster.

I don't think it would have occurred to me to offer my seat to a 7 year old - when I was that age we were the ones who were (in theory) supposed to stand up for adults! Maybe not everyone realises the etiquette has changed to the other way round now, especially the older generations?

I agree generally about the culture of minding your own business, which is generally not a bad thing. I tend to assume people are capable of asking if they need help - e.g. I don't approach every confused-looking tourist to offer directions, but I will usually try to help if they ask me. And I'd usually help someone with a pram or buggy or suitcase if they asked me, otherwise I'd assume they know what they're doing and can manage.

You really should approach the station staff though if you have particular mobility problems that make getting around difficult, they are trained to assist people with disabilities and should make sure you get to where you need to be.

Have to say I'd expect you to ask too.Dp and I stopped to help a collapsed lady once(along with 3 other people),sorted out an ambulance,found her glasses and handbag etc not in London but limping in tears without asking for help I don't think I would(Devon).If you asked I would help though.

I often ask old ladies in supermarkets if they need help getting things down from high shelves if they're obviously having difficulties so I do have empathy but I don't like to offend.I'd always help a child on it's own,actually I would always ask older people if I was worried and maybe risk offense but younger people are different. We're less vulnerable and stronger.

Hope you're ok.

Re my 7 year old it was obvious she was poorly and soooo knackered she just couldn't stand up straight,kept falling over.It was so packed she found holding onto the pole hard.I certainly don't think people should give up seats for kids but in this instance I would have as I would have felt sorry for her,like said teenagers did.

this thread title is irksome now.

YABU.

If you had come on MN and asked for help with shopping and cleaning because you were in pain and needed to rest I'm pretty sure one of us cunts would have been around within the hour.

Hope you feel better soon.

YABU I am a Londoner and i think your thread title is offensive. I think people are generally reluctant to get involved no matter where they are from. I have seen similar behaviour all over the country, so it isn't just London.

I can't say whether or not i would have offered help as it would have depended on the 'vibes' i was getting at the time. But i have helped people out previously and still would, i have found young women crying on steps and paid their taxi home, i have even taken a women home in a cab from a pub who was too drunk to walk - she told me her address and i carried her up the stairs, put her into bed safely and left. i always wondered if she remembers some random person in her house or whether she thinks she got home alone.

I reported the thread title about an hour ago, don't care if that makes me po-faced. It is a very stupid thing to say, op should be called on it.

YABU. Very much U.

I hope you're feeling better today though.

By "Londoner" you mean someone who lives in London? That's me. I'm not a cunt.

In the 12 years I have lived here I have helped people and been helped. I have been walked home by a stranger after falling asleep on a bus, another bus sleeping incident a stranger called a taxi for me. I have intervened in what appeared to be a DV incident in a train station, sat with a fainting woman on the tube until medical help arrived & left her my water, always help with prams, give up my seat etc.

YABU. Living in a big city can make you less likely to take notice of what's happening around you, it can make you wary if you're sensible but we are not "cunts".

I hope you are feeling better/happier now & that next time you are in London you bump into some of the people on this thread.

Fibromyalgia is nasty and not something that you bounce back from, so I will forgive your use of the c word.

IME Londoners are lovely and had you asked for help, you would have recieved it.

Another londoner here. Born and Bred. Don't appreciate being called names because I happened to be born in a place.

Why didn't you ask the staff at brixton tube to help? They're very nice.

I'd have put you on the 35 bus from brixton to liverpool street. Then you could have sat down all the way and wouldn't have had to do too many stairs. Worth remembering for next time?

Oh stop being so precious all of you! I've lived in London all my life (and I'm not in the least scared of Brixton tube at midnight) and the thread title doesn't bother me. OP, like all non-Londoners, is just jealous, and wishes she could pull of our cuntitude with such élan.

Seriously though - this isn't 'prejudice'.

Cuntitude Word of the week!

MrsHeffley, I usually offer seats to children as hate the thought of my DD struggling one day and not being offered the same courtesy, but if 'fiddling with my phone' I am usually working (replying to emails to send later) and genuinely may not look up, as I know my journey so well I don't need to look up to check which station I am at etc. again, I really don't undstand why, if our child was suffering, you didn't ask someone to give her a seat. I find this attitude of standing and suffering instead of simply asking for help extraordinary to be honest.

I wouldn't have asked you if you were ok because obviously you weren't and there are so many not ok people available in London that looking out for them all would be a full time job. That's why everyone tries to avoid looking at anyone.

Yes I agree anyone who is struggling to stand should get a seat, regardless of age - sometimes you do have to ask though, as either people genuinely haven't noticed, or are pretending they haven't and hoping to get away with it!

she told me to fuck off which I thought was fair enough to be honest

@ margoandjerry

See, we Londoners are so great we always consider the other person's point of view.

Therefore I forgive you for being so unreasonable, OP.

Ive not read the whole thread, but wanted to add my opinion anyway :)

As a Scottish girl who was in London for the weekend a few week back, I foun the place to be lovely and friendly. Anywhere that we needed help with, like figuring out trains to the airport etc, people were always ready and willing to help, even going out of their way to help us.

Lots of chats and banter about the fact we were Scottish with packed subway carriages, and had a realy good conversation with a Londoner Camden market stall vendor about Scottish independence.

Came away loving the place and the people, even though I had my bag stolen during the trip (police were lovely friendy and helpful as well)

That should say on packed subway carriages

I'm a bit disgusted by your OP. To brand a city's population as Cunts because you felt that you were hard done by makes you something of a cunt youirself.

When I was 38 weeks pregnant with our youngest, I bought too much shopping and tried, like the stubborn bitch brave tropper I am, to carry it all home (No taxi money left and no mobile at the time to call for help.)

I got a little way along and my leg gave in from under me. i fell in a heap on the pavement and loads of people just walked past me. I couldn't get up and people were averting thier eyes left and right, even though I tried to ask for help (Which you should have done if you thought you were in need of it, by the way!).

I finally got a nice man to lend me his mobile to call my Aunt fora lift and all was well.

My point is though, why did you not ask for help?! I'm assuming it's not because they were strangers or you wouldn't be so livid about no-one approaching you. So what was it that stopped you asking for help?

In general though, I find that most people ARE reluctant to help others because they worry about the personal consequences for thier charity. For all they know it could be a ruse.

I don't think that, as some think, it depends on the situation if you'd help or not. If you;re going to help, you will. It's an instinctive reaction that doesn't really requires much thought and, to be honest, if you're going to take the time to think you'd probably be too late to help anyway, in a serious situation.

I've never been in the position to say if I'd help someone or not but I'd like to think that my instincts would be to help.

Hello all

Apologies for the delay in responding to reports about the title; we've amended it now.

MNHQ x

And now the entire thread makes no sense!